Feedback: How are you finding the official Nokia Belle update?
To those that managed to get the official Nokia Belle update yesterday, what is your verdict so far? I recorded a hands on video (twice in fact) using YouTube’s direct upload feature. YouTube failed the first time and then Chrome died the second time.
What I wanted to share from my end was that I’m really enjoying Belle. It’s amazing what they’ve managed to do on 2009 hardware. It’s smooth for the most parts, though it does stutter here and there, and gets worse if you have more things running in the background.
The web browser is much improved though it is not a fan of heavy websites at all. I like the new navigation bar that makes it much easier to browse the web. I detest that the browser bar still doesn’t fully incorporate search properly (instead you have to click ‘search for’ as if you don’t you’ll just lead yourself to an error page.
As mentioned, the phone is a lot smoother if you have less/no programmes running. I do dislike that I have to manage what’s open to get the phone running smoothly. I’m sure it’s less Belle but more the hardware that Belle has to deal with.
Other than that, I really like :
- the new homescreen with better widget implementation.
- easy shortcut addition – instead of having the shortcut bar and then editing it to look for shortcut – just add the shortcut app. And you can just have one if you want.
- the more consistent lay out – very important for overall experience.
- the drop down notification, nice quick access.
- Menu A-Z organization and the search button
I’m finding that having a lot of photos, you’re going to want to open Gallery for a while and leave it running whilst it refreshes your media. After getting the update, perhaps leave the N8 for about 20 minutes to sort itself out. If it’s still stuttering in places (like scrolling) then restart the N8. The whole update itself was pretty seamless. Connect to microUSB, check updates at Nokia suite, just click to accept the update and then done.
For those who are still waiting, it’s coming 
You definitely have a lot of good things to look forward to.
BTW, thanks to Yvonne from Nokia and co who have been replying to user questions in our comment section about Nokia Belle. That is pretty cool, no? (And yes, that is really Yvonne – confirmed in discussion through email).
- http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/07/i-have-the-official-nokia-belle-update-d-nokia-belle-available-through-nokia-suite-d/
- http://mynokiablog.com/2012/02/07/nokia-belle-rollout-info/
So:
- What do you like about Belle? What’s been done well?
- What could do with improving?
- Any bugs?
- Any app incompatibilities?
- How was the actual update process itself?
- Are you still waiting?
Belle should appear soon, and I’m guessing most will have a reasonably positive response to the update, if not high marks then most will be in the category waiting.
You could in the mean time check out the availability Map for Nokia Belle
About the Author (Author Profile)
Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and facebook.com/MyNokiaBlog. Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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HELP! My N8 got bricked while updating from Anna to Belle via Nokia Suite!
I didn’t even touch the phone! It said “connection to the phone was lost” and 3 steps below it:
1.Disconnect USB from phone
2.Reconnect USB
3.Wait for the installation to continue
I don’t even have a backup phone! Please help!!!!!
Relax mine did the same thing it isn’t bricked. Just do those instructions
Well, I did that and nothing happened. Now the phone isn’t even showing up on the computer and it isn’t even hard-resetting by the 4-button reset.
Please please tell me what to do next.
NaviFirm and Phoenix are your friends
+1
It’s not hard just use this guide and files from navifirm you’ve downloaded: http://theonecfw.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-flash.html
I’m gonna do just that.
Thank you so much guys!
I’ve never flashed my phone before, but have done numerous times with apple products ironically.
I hope I can get it working again, even if its just Anna!
I got the same message 3-4 times…. I disconnected the usb from pc…. closed the nokia suite n started again…. then it was smooth…
The phone’s totally bricked.
Tried every possible thing to get it working. Phoenix repeatedly showed an error while flashing it. Have given it to someone who I know at a Nokia Care Centre. I hope they’re able to get it working, cuz even the warranty just expired 15 days ago!
Thanks a lot Nokia! (Both sarcastically and genuinely)
I flashed yesterday with phoenix, i also got error messages while clicking “refurbish” , it says one file was missing but it worked by clicking “update sw”.. Did your phone show up on Phoenix after you scanned it? If yes, there’s hope, just flash a different / older version of the OS then update. Did you remove all nokia related software from Control Panel, including Ovi suit, Nokia connectivity cable, Phoenix and all related stuff before installing Phoenix?
Well, the error I got was something like “failed to refurbish phone….try again?” so I tried to do it again, but sadly to no avail.
Nokia Suite was closed during the flashing process and I even had to disable my antivirus cuz it wouldn’t let Phoenix install properly.
Even after installing Phoenix properly I get an error:
Error loading component
HRESULT 0×80040154 (-2147221164)
This means:
Class not registered
There was a “not connected” status written at the bottom of the window throughout the process.
The phone’s not with me now, its gone to a Nokia Care point, and god forbid, if they’re also unable to do anything about it, I’ll download an older version and try flashing it again.
Really really thank you so much for the support!
Looking forward to all the help I can get!
BELLA IS AMAZING! TOTALLY CHANGES THE UI.AND NOW THE NOKIA N8 IS ONLY £250 ON PAY AS GO. ITS A BARGAIN PHONE IT REALLY IS NOW, AM KEEPING THIS PHONE FOR ANTHOR YEAR FOR NOW OR EVEN 2YEARS,I WAS GONA GET A NEW PHONE IN THE SUMMER,BUT BELLA HAS JUST CHANGED THAT…………….WELL DONE NOKIA!
So far.. very good. Nokia did an amazing job on this one, bravo!
I only have one question, how does the Wi-Fi scanning work ? In anna, we had the option to turn the scannin off/on but when an app needed the wi-fi, it could connect anyway..
How is this implemented in Belle ? I have my wi-fi on “on” but I wonder if its scanning all the time, or is there something clever behind it that prevents it from wasting battery ?
Check your wifi settings again after update, settings are reset.
Check your wifi settings again. after update, settings are reset.
It was just average, 360 sounds like B.O.B minus the southern accent.
What do you like about Belle? What’s been done well?
For the shit processor its fairing well, UI obviouslt widgets and app launching
What could do with improving?
Any bugs?
Any app incompatibilities?
How was the actual update process itself?
Are you still waiting?
damn accidentally entered nevermind
I’m finding it really great nice improvement over Anna. The pull down status bar is awesome!
I also made a video walkthrough of it,
Link to video Porgey!! thanks
To everyone complaining about the browser, just turn off java/ecma script off. It speeds up browsing by so much. And most sites can be used, its very rare to come across a site that won’t work without. I’ve only come across live.com but in that case you just switch it back on temporarily! Enjoy.
Thanks for the tip! It works!
A little confused still, hopefully soon everything’s going to be clear.
Regret some default tunes that are lost.
Where did “Nokia Situations” go?
I used to use the timed profile for silent? not out for Belle?
I reinstalled it from beta labs – still works, albeit pager and another profile is not there anymore.
Thanks – I’ll give it a try
Nokia Situations now back in and working!
Thanks
I’m symbian Anna user.I want to update my phone to new symbian Belle.but my internet speed is too low so I can not download Belle via Nokia PC suite.I need to download it to other way.
Anybody have another way to update? or via phone?
Nokia care is the way for you. Just drop your phone @ nokia care and they will update it for u. Make sure you back up all your contacts, gallery & messages in case of any sensitive data.
The only things I would hope to be improved are mainly new widgets: Player widget is too huge, as is the clock too. Old Anna widget with clock, date and profile was very compact and nice!
I wouldn’t need big album art picture for the player widget as many of my tracks don’t even have an album art picture. Music player widget is now taking almost half homescreen and wasting space.
Access to power save mode could bee done by tapping battery icon on the top bar and by taping the clock it would be nice to get to set wake up alarm.
There could be a bigger calender widget or/and a smaller with only date and access to calender. Now i have to put a medium size widget or only a icon to get to calender, old widget with time, date and profile was a great access to calender as well.
All together I’m really loving belle update with better homescreens, smoother scrolling, nice new font, status bar and navigation bar on the bottom. I donwloaded the carmode app and it is VERY handy!
+1
Media player widget – album cover picture is too big!
What’s the quickest way you’ve found to accessing the power save option on belle? I can’t seem to find it… other than using Nokia Battery Monitor and having it auto turn on at a certain percentage…
How about touch the Power Button and select “Activate Power Saving” from the list.
Completely forgot about that route! Thanks!
I guess this is another example where symbian has too many routes for accessing the same settings. I’m glad to see they’re reducing the redundancy.
I hate to say this (and can hardly believe I’m typing this), but I really wish I hadn’t upgraded my N8 to Belle.
I’m baffled by some of the changes – the huge clock – ugly and far too big.
The email widget that’s so large, anyone passing by read your messages.
Even though I’ve changed the view to Inbox, when I fire up Messages, it still opens in Conversation mode.
I’ve now lost so many apps and all my books. I’ve downloaded some from the Nokia Store once more, but some are asking me to re-pay and others aren’t available.
I am grateful to Nokia for the updates, however I hope that Symbian Carla rectifies these problems ASAP.
Other annoying things – you can’t tap the battery to see how much power is left.
You can’t tap the date to go straight into the calendar.
The shortcuts have the applications names written underneath. (Who on earth thought that would be a good idea?)
The Music player is too large.
No Nokia Situations to be found in the Nokia Store.
Good stuff – the phone seems smooth and quick. Car mode is a cool programme (I can’t see why it wouldn’t have worked for Anna though.)
My advice – if you haven’t upgraded, don’t, it really isn’t worth it – you lose far more than you gain. Wait until Carla comes.
*Loads up ‘Gutted’ app*
I thought the widgets would be resizable?
We cant have the email + facebook widgets on the same screen as some small icons like last time?
If the widgets were resizable I think most peoples current faults would be sorted?
Lol at the size of the music player widget…
I’ve just tried pinching and resizing the widgets (the clock, music player, etc) nope, they don’t resize.
Another good point however, texting when using the numeric pad is far better now – it seems faster and more responsive.
They are not resizable but will (hopefully) be available in different sizes (seperate widget like: “weather small”/”weather”)
@Valmon – Noted! To be honest, the only thing I was looking forward to was being able to choose the number of shortcuts (i.e. if I only want 2, instead of 4, in a row or anywhere)!
I’m still reticent about the download, so I’m not going to download it, at least not at this time.
Music player still messes up my albums. For an album composed of different artists I get a separate entry for each song. So if I have something like “Ministry of Sound 2011″ with 63 songs I get 63 album entries in my list.
This problem was already evident in Anna and Nokia promised to fix it in Belle. They did *NOT* keep their promise. I already rolled back to the Symbian before Anna because I can’t handle 40 gigs of music with thousands of album list entries.
Lesson learnt: I love the Nokia design and quality across a variety of products (phones, headphones, speaker, bluetooth receivers…). But the software simply sucks. As a consequence I will not buy the N8 successor if it runs on Symbian. Rather wait till it’s released with Windows or go for some alternative like the Sony Xperia S.
it would of been easier if they ‘artists, albums, playlists, all songs, podcasts, genres and composers’ just like S60 tbh instead of merging artists and albums -______- i’d high hopes for the music player on belle but still disappointed. nonetheless its still a smooth OS
I had the same problem, and I finally figured it out. I had to download a free program called mp3tag. With it, I set the Album Artist field on the entire album to the same name, like “Various Artists”, for example. You can keep the original artist name in the Artist or Contributing Artist field. But setting the Album Artist field to the same name will group your album correctly.
Just don’t ask me how long it took to finally get all my album art working!
C6-01,C7,E7,N8 aren’t going to see Carla or Donna.
who said?
there was a recent error report regarding carla being tested on e6…
if it is being tested on e6 than it means it will wor k on all the above phones due to same hardware…
Original S^3 phones wont get Carla. Hardware core is too different to make it work.
700,701,603, will have Carla and Donna.
about E6 I’m not sure.
Fate of new models for Carla and Donna is unclear. Camera phone might be the last one or there might come 3-5 new models after that.
end user it does not matter if you have Belle or Carla or even Donna. They look same but has some small details different. Apps I think will be compatible between those.
Have you seen Donna too already?
I haven’t seen it but I am still 100% sure it will look same. There is no point to make changes as it would kill application compatibility for Belle/carla apps.
And 2012 is end of Symbian anyway what comes to major updates. Pointless strategy to make something different as Belle already looks really good for DEAD OS.
Hmm, well dead or alive I am ready to get a new handset in near future. Not because of the dead or alive issue but just for sake of change.
The question arises here that where would I go, seeing the Belle’s navigation and interaction, I am considering to look elsewhere. Nokia’s Symbian^3 wasn’t giving me what I needed the most, which I have had with Sony Ericsson’s Symbian UIQ.
And I really don’t think that any of the ^modern^ smartphones will go that path anytime soon. Smartphones to me, and I mean to me not to rest of the world, is not more than an entertainment device with 0 productivity and that goes same for almost all the other models and not just Nokia.
So in my considerable list, Samsung, iPhone, iOS, WindowsPhone are NO-GO. That leaves me Sony, Motorola, Nokia, Android, Meego, webOS and IF Carla came with a navigation that make some sense. And by that I don’t mean the look, but the interaction methods than Carla will be too.
What does e.g. the main menu and homescreen UI necesasrily have to do with the applications? :confused:
sure, it cannot be radically different or change the positioning of the softkeys perhaps but don’t see why they could not e.g. incorporate swipe gestures more.
I was already using Belle 111.030.0609 euro 3 for nearly 2 months now so I wasn’t very surprised by the official one.
Thz worst is I was a little bit deceived when I’ve installed the official one yesterday…
Indeed, I thought I would have all the new widgets (weather, small email, Compact music player, RSS feed,etc) but in fact no, I’ve lost them by installing this version!
So, I really hope they will be release as soon as possible in a future update!
But to stay positive, Belle is an incredible improvement to Symbian and it’s the best update NOKIA has ever released because it makes your phone faster, easier, more personnalisable and beautifuler!
I am in a similar position to you, I have been using 111.030.0609 Taylor pro for around 2 months (and 607 before that).
Belle is nothing new to me, however I am very disappointed that I’ve lost a lot of decent widgets (weather, RSS, Bookmark and most importantly the large calendar widget). I thought the update would have included these widgets as standard, alas no.
I can’t reinstall them due to certificate so I’m not in a position where if I want to get these widgets back I have to hack my phone (which I don’t want to have to do), hey, at least I’ve got a BBC iPlayer widget (that does absolutely nothing and is just a oversized shortcut….) that’s at least something…
I’m still waiting for my update (Software Under Creation in my network). It seems more difficult to wait when I known that it’s already available for others. I wonder when it will be “created”. Just hope I won’t be waiting another couple of months…
I really like belle, but i am like a few others a bit surprised that there are actually less shortcuts in many cases, than with anna. (like calendar and battery mentioned earlier) For instance i also found that there is no longer any shortcut to hold the “call” button to get voice commands working. (on the screen that is, thankfully the one on the headset remote control still works as it used to)
But overall i am pleased. I’m missing a few of the widgets we have seen around, like weather and different size music player etc, but I’m guessing some of that will come further down the line. (there are already various ports out for those who have hacked phones
)
Here’s what I did for E7:
1. during restore process things were too slow so I took out my sim from the mobile and it restored within mins.
2. For browser just turn off java/ecma script off. It’s much faster trust me. Tipped by commenter Nazty11 above.
3. Haptic feed back turned off by going to profiles>general>screen vibration. Touch feels smoother without the vibrating screen
Free Ram at 125mb and drive C: free space at 175. Belle makes my e7 look and feel great.
Only negative I hate is that email is still stored in drive C:, no way to change to mass memory. This will cause symbian phones to be buggy for people that use email regularly, especially those with large attachments. Unsuspecting consumers are bound to get a buggy experience in the next few months.
What was hot and what was not on installing Belle …
OK installation – no bugs.
Fine drop-down menu – super soft screen movements – great that inserting widget / shortcut is now made easier ..
But I am missing the fast setting of the alarm.
I am missing my second in the clock and I am missing date display.
And why did the ‘Send’ button suddenly shift position in text window?
I am missing the feature that shows who is calling and who is texting me without having to go into the phone.
And I am STILL not able to select the entire word when I find spelling errors in text and will go back to correct them…. And thats a big thing for me…
Otherwise – nice platform, nice upgrade…
My major Belle gripe concerns email notifications (or lack of them). The email widgets are way too big and as I use four accounts it’s impossible to have the widgets all on one screen.
This wouldn’t be an issue if the homescreen or new notification pane (or even idle screen) actually alerted you with an icon when a new email had arrived. But no, you get no visual notification at all, so you need to periodically MANUALLY check the relevant email widgets to see whether any new messages are waiting for you.
Every Nokia phone I’ve owned since the S60 days has had a convenient visual way of notifying you when an email has arrived within any of its inboxes….why not Belle?!?
after update to belle i’ve got problem with internet connection [ doesnt matter if im trying to connect via wifi or mobile internet - T ] i’m getting error connection failed / access denied. tested on various wifi [ with key, with easy access - pin code.. ].Any one can help me ?
restore backup done before installing belle
that was the 1st thing what i’ve done after update.
Check your access points and and make sure the correct ones are prioritised or actually installed in the first place.
I use a Vodafone branded N8 which is unlocked and I use an O2 sim card. The update reinstalled all the Vodafone access points and wiped the O2 ones, so I had to re-install and prioritise the O2 ones….
If you are using internet as your default access points make sure that in the network destinations screen the ‘tick’ is next to the internet line.
Worth a try if you are in a similar position.
thank You but everything what i checkes is set properly [ access points, tick that You mention etc. ] but all the time im getting the same error :/
Problem solved:
if You want internet connection back You must go to:
settings>phone>phone management>factory settings>delete data and restore.
After this wifi and 3g works fine.
dont forget to backup Your contacts/sms , and copy all your data from mass memory [ during the process it will be erased ]. You can also make backup with appz and phone presets but im not sure if it will work [ problem is somewhere with phone setup... ] after restore
No problems with Belle over in the USA, Thanks NOKIA for including us in the first round of updates.
The only apps that are missing is “Favorite apps” (not sure that it will work with Belle) and “Angry Birds Rio” (Been in contact with Rovio to see whats up)
Angry Birds Rio is back in Nokia Store
Updated quickly and hassle free, good stuff
Overall I give it 8/10, as it’s not quite there yet for the following reasons:
1. Media player widget – it’s too big!
2. Email notification – or lack of, we need a visual notification just like we do when we get an SMS.
3. RSS feeds- they’ve gone!? I miss the bbc news rss feed on my home screen. Now I’ve got to open the web browser and select the bookmark and wait for the load!
4. Texting needs improvement – It’s better BUT, I’m constantly hitting “RETURN” and “SPACEBAR” whenever I’m using letters from the bottom of the keyboard! very frustrating.
5. Facebook ap – What’s it called now? “social something something”. Anyway, it’s OK being fair, only marginally better.
6. 3G ON/OFF – We’ve got a WiFi ON/OFF shortcut, why not 3G?
Things I really liked:
+ NEW RINGTONES?! – Anyone else notice? They’re awesome, was a nice surprise!
+ Clocks – Flip and analogue is really cool.
+ UI – The overall look and feel of the new UI is very nice and swish, hardly stutters.
+ The Core Aps – Conversations, Web, Email, Gallery etc etc are much better.
It’s really good, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to update!
for me everythings gr8
excpt for a few thngs-
1-the menu scrolling really lags!
2-many of my apps gone
3-cnt see the percntage of battery left!
Overall it feels much smoother
excpt that scroll lag
job well done!
Noticed that when playing a game with sound that if I silence the game, the media player will play but the radio will not.
Angry birds does not have adjustable volume. It is either full volume or muted.
I have had my N8 for a little over a year now and with Belle now on it looks like I am good for another year at least. Love it.
I’m enjoying the update so far, but I agree with the many who think some of the widgets are just too large. I’d love to have some choices for smaller size widgets. I don’t like having to use so many home screens to fit everything. Still, everything feels fresh and modern, which is great.
The update process was 100x smoother than Anna, so I’m pretty pleased about that.
The only thing that bothers me is this nagging feeling that they just copied Android’s user interface.